A cold winter blast just hit us here here in upper Michigan so hot soup sounded really good. I had some shopping I needed to get done so I thought the slow cooker would be a good fit to free up my afternoon. This Slow Cooker Chicken Noodle Soup Recipe does require a little bit of prep time, but the end result is really good – serve as a side dish or stand alone meal.

Generously salt and pepper chicken thighs. In a large skillet over medium high heat, using the oil ,brown chicken breasts on both sides; remove to platter and set aside. Reserve 1 tablespoon of the cooking oil in the skillet and cook the carrots, celery, and onion until mixture starts to brown. Add the tomato paste, thyme, garlic, and red pepper flakes cooking until fragrant, about 30 seconds.

Stir in 1 cup of the chicken broth scrapping any dripping from the bottom of the pan and pour the mixture into the slow cooker. Add bay leaves and remaining chicken broth to the slow cooker and add the chicken thighs to the mixture.

Salt and pepper the chicken breast, wrap breast in aluminum foil and place foil packet on top of the soup mixture.

Cook for 4 – 6 hours or until chicken is fall off the bone tender. Remove the chicken breast and thighs from the slow cooker and place a a platter too cool.

Cook noodles according to package directions; drain.

While noodles are cooking using a fork shred chicken into bite size pieces discarding the bones; add the chicken back to the slow cooker. Remove bay leaves, mix in the noodles, peas and parsley and continue cooking until heated through.